Shake-up to survive: Struggling rural hospital in Kentucky works on a turnaround

PINEVILLE, Ky. — Stace Holland started hunting for ways to slash unnecessary costs the minute he took over an endangered rural hospital that was losing $6 million a year. It didn't take long for him to find plenty.

He persuaded the dietary contractor to reduce fees by $15,000 a month. He switched emergency medicine contractors to save $200,000 a year. And he persuaded some full-time employees to drop to 32 hours a week, yielding cost savings equal to cutting 15 FTEs.